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Tunisian President Rejects Constitutional Court Amendments

Tunisian President Kais Saied in Tunis (AFP/Getty Images)
Tunisian President Kais Saied in Tunis (AFP/Getty Images)
    Tunis, Cairo - Mongi Saidani, Asharq al-Awsat
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Tunisian President Rejects Constitutional Court Amendments

Tunisian President Kais Saied in Tunis (AFP/Getty Images)
Tunisian President Kais Saied in Tunis (AFP/Getty Images)

Tunisian President Kais Saied refused to sign the Constitutional Court Law amendments introduced by the parliament, fearing they would be used to overthrow him.

Saied’s decision further escalates the political tensions between the presidency and parliament, in addition to the government backed by Ennahda Movement.

The president sent a letter to Speaker Rached Ghannouchi, rejecting the amendments, calling for respecting all provisions of the constitution.

Constitutional law experts voiced their concerns that the recent amendments could be used to remove Saied from office.

The parliament approved the ratified revisions of the draft bill for electing members of the Constitutional Court and reduced the number of votes from 145 to only 131.

The amendment was proposed by Ghannouchi to reduce the number of votes constitutionally necessary to pass the members of the court to 109 votes representing the absolute majority.

Observers believe Ennahda can obtain the necessary number of votes to pass certain candidates of the Constitutional Court.

Earlier, the president rejected the ministerial amendment carried out by Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and approved by the parliament.

The Constitutional Court is able to end the president of the republic's term, declaring the position of president vacant, receive the presidential oath and examine disputes related to the jurisdiction of both the president and prime minister.

It plays a pivotal role in monitoring constitutional amendments and treaties, draft laws and procedures related to the parliament's internal system.

Meanwhile, Arab League Sec-Gen Ahmed Aboul Gheit, began Sunday a visit to Tunis, following an official invitation within the framework of coordination and consultation with Tunisia as the current president of the 30th Arab summit.

An official at the League’s General Secretariat said that during the visit, Aboul Gheit is scheduled to meet with the Tunisian president to discuss various Arab issues, including the situation in Libya, the Palestinian cause, and the ongoing Arab crises.

The source stated that the talks between the summit presidency and the General Secretariat include all decisions of the 30th Arab summit. They will also evaluate measures that could be implemented, in light of the exceptional circumstances that the Arab region and the world witnessed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Secretary-General is also expected to meet the Foreign Minister Othman al-Jerandi to discuss issues of common interest between Tunisia and the General Secretariat.

Abul Gheit will meet with directors of specialized Arab organizations operating in Tunisia to discuss the role of the joint Arab action in helping member states mitigate the effects and repercussions of COVID-19.

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Arab World

Egyptian Source Denies Cairo Involvement in Ethiopia Unrest

Gunmen in Tigray hand over light weapons to Ethiopian defense forces earlier (Ethiopian News Agency)
Gunmen in Tigray hand over light weapons to Ethiopian defense forces earlier (Ethiopian News Agency)
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Egyptian Source Denies Cairo Involvement in Ethiopia Unrest

Gunmen in Tigray hand over light weapons to Ethiopian defense forces earlier (Ethiopian News Agency)
Gunmen in Tigray hand over light weapons to Ethiopian defense forces earlier (Ethiopian News Agency)

An informed Egyptian source on Saturday rejected allegations linking Cairo to renewed unrest in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray region where fighting resumed between Tigrayan forces and the federal government, nearly four years after a peace deal ended a two-year war.

Field Marshal Birhanu Jula, chief of general staff of the Ethiopian National Defense Force, accused foreign powers of supporting a newly formed armed alliance seeking to destabilize Ethiopia.

“The Tigray front and the alliance cannot achieve anything on their own unless they are pushed, supported and supplied by Sudan, Egypt and other forces,” Jula said in remarks carried by Ethiopian media Friday.

He also accused Eritrea of acting as an intermediary between foreign powers and armed groups inside Ethiopia.

Tigrayan forces seized three airports in the region and launched attacks in neighboring Afar and Amhara in recent days, marking the most serious escalation since the devastating 2020-2022 war.

The Egyptian source told Asharq Al-Awsat that Ethiopia’s insinuations were “allegations that do not merit a response,” adding that Cairo “has nothing to do with such polemics.”

The source urged Ethiopian authorities to “address their own internal crises and problems instead of trying to blame their domestic failures on external parties.”

The Tigray crisis was a longstanding internal issue, the source added, stressing that Egypt maintains “a consistent and strict policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries.”

Egyptian strategic and military expert Samir Ragheb similarly told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Ethiopian military chief’s remarks amounted to assumptions intended to shift responsibility for Addis Ababa’s internal problems onto outside actors.

Ragheb argued that Ethiopia’s reference to outside support was based largely on geography, given Tigray’s northern borders with Sudan and Eritrea.

“If Egypt had sought to intervene in Ethiopia to exert pressure over other issues, it would have done so during the 2020 fighting, when the conflict was at its height and before construction phases of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam had been completed,” he said.

Ragheb described the fighting as a longstanding domestic struggle over power and resources, stemming from disputes over governance and efforts to weaken Ethiopia’s federal system.

He also urged that the Tigray conflict be kept separate from the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, saying there was no operational or strategic link between fighting in Tigray and the dam.

Ragheb argued that Addis Ababa’s accusations were intended to deflect attention from what he described as failures to fulfill commitments under the 2022 Pretoria peace agreement. He stressed that Cairo does not support armed factions or movements against African states.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front dominated Ethiopia’s ruling coalition from 1991 until Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018 and marginalized the group, contributing to tensions that erupted into war in 2020.

The Pretoria agreement ended that conflict in 2022, but tensions and intermittent clashes subsequently returned before escalating sharply this month.

Arab World

Syria Detains 16 Former Air Force Pilots in Less Than a Month

Syrian security forces personnel (AFP/File) 
Syrian security forces personnel (AFP/File) 
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Syria Detains 16 Former Air Force Pilots in Less Than a Month

Syrian security forces personnel (AFP/File) 
Syrian security forces personnel (AFP/File) 

Syrian security authorities have detained 16 former air force officers, including senior commanders, in less than a month as part of a widening campaign targeting personnel accused of involvement in airstrikes on populated areas during the country’s war.

The arrests were carried out mainly in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartous, as well as in Aleppo province in northern Syria.

State-run Alikhbariah TV reported that the Counterterrorism Directorate arrested former pilot Khaldoun Hussein Mubarak in the countryside of Jableh in Latakia province. Local media reported that he was detained Friday at his home in the village of Ain Qaita.

Mubarak survived the downing of his aircraft near Saraqeb in Idlib province in 2020. State media under the former government reported at the time that his plane had been hit by Turkish aircraft. Activists have since recirculated an interview in which Mubarak vowed after surviving the incident to continue flying military missions even if he were targeted again.

His detention brought to 16 the number of former air force pilots and officers arrested in less than a month.

On Sept. 18, Tartous Internal Security chief Col. Abdul Aal Mohammed Abdul Aal announced the arrest of five senior former air force officers in operations conducted with the Counterterrorism Directorate.

Abdul Aal said the five were suspected of involvement, according to their respective positions and responsibilities, in planning, directing and carrying out airstrikes on populated areas during the war. Investigations were continuing to determine their alleged criminal responsibility before referring them to the judiciary, he added.

Latakia security authorities had announced on Sept. 10 the detention of nine former pilots and officers, who were accused of participating in attacks and violations in several Syrian provinces through their roles in fixed-wing and helicopter aviation.

A Syrian Interior Ministry source said the nine had logged more than 3,200 flight hours and sorties during the uprising and war, including missions over Eastern Ghouta, Aleppo and its countryside, Deir Ezzor and its countryside, and rural Hama, according to state news agency SANA.

Earlier, on Sept. 5, security forces in Aleppo detained Brig. Gen. pilot Hamidi Ali Murad, a former senior air force commander who had overseen several military air bases, including Mezzeh in Damascus, T4 in eastern Homs province and Kuweires east of Aleppo, and had also headed the air force academy.

Syrian authorities accuse the detained officers, according to their respective roles, of helping plan, direct or carry out air operations that struck populated areas, causing deaths, destruction and displacement. The allegations remain under investigation ahead of possible referral to the courts.

Arab World

Israel Creates Buffer Zone Beyond ‘Yellow Line’ in South Lebanon

Local residents watch an Israeli drone monitoring them in the South Lebanon town of Zawtar al-Gharbiya. (Reuters) 
Local residents watch an Israeli drone monitoring them in the South Lebanon town of Zawtar al-Gharbiya. (Reuters) 
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Israel Creates Buffer Zone Beyond ‘Yellow Line’ in South Lebanon

Local residents watch an Israeli drone monitoring them in the South Lebanon town of Zawtar al-Gharbiya. (Reuters) 
Local residents watch an Israeli drone monitoring them in the South Lebanon town of Zawtar al-Gharbiya. (Reuters) 

The Israeli military has intensified operations in villages along the Yellow Line in South Lebanon, systematically demolishing homes and civilian infrastructure in what Lebanese sources fear is an effort to create a new buffer zone and pave the way for a prolonged Israeli presence.

The operations are taking place outside the Yellow Line, which Israel drew to demarcate a security zone in South Lebanon extending as far as 12 kilometers into Lebanese territory in some areas. Over recent weeks, Israeli forces have carried out dozens of demolitions in towns beyond that line.

The demolitions have hit Mansouri, Buyut al-Siyad and Majdal Zoun in the western sector; Baraachit, Beit Yahoun and Hadatha in the central sector; and Zawtar al-Sharqiya, Nabatieh al-Fawqa and Kfar Tebnit in the eastern sector.

Israel has also expanded airstrikes and artillery fire to Kfar Rumman, the Jabal al-Rafi heights near Nabatieh, Aita al-Jabal and Wadi Zibqin, among other areas.

Long-term occupation

Although the towns lie outside the Yellow Line, but targeting them, driving out residents and leaving them devastated “means Israel is planning a long-term occupation of the areas it controls,” a security source in South Lebanon told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The source said Israeli forces were turning the area adjacent to the Yellow Line into “a scorched zone that amounts to a new buffer zone beyond the buffer zone it created between the border with Lebanon and the Yellow Line.”

The moves were intended to drive residents away and prevent Hezbollah from monitoring Israeli troop movements and positions inside the occupied area, according to the source, who attributed the measures in part to Israeli concerns over a possible future resumption of resistance activity and military operations.

The source also pointed to a military dimension, saying the operations could clear the way for Israeli forces to rapidly seize additional territory with limited risk should they receive political authorization to advance.

Towns emptied and destroyed

In June, Israeli forces completely emptied Mansouri, south of Tyre, after dropping leaflets ordering residents to leave immediately because of the danger in the area. Thirty-seven families had returned to the town following the ceasefire.

Israeli forces have since carried out more than 130 demolitions, sources from Mansouri told Asharq Al-Awsat. They said Israeli tanks and military vehicles enter the town almost daily to rig buildings with explosives.

The sources added that military vehicles had crossed through the center of Mansouri toward the al-Birkeh area to the west, near the coastal road, where troops rigged homes with explosives and cut down trees. After the town’s mosque was destroyed, they said, it became difficult to determine which neighborhoods were being hit by demolitions or artillery fire because the mosque had served as a landmark for locating the blasts.

Hadatha and Beit Yahoun have also been completely emptied following Israeli incursions and daily shelling, while Baraachit is now nearly deserted, local sources in the central sector told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The sources noted that Aita al-Jabal was subjected to daily artillery fire and incursions around its outskirts, prompting most residents to leave as the town became increasingly dangerous.

Kfar Tebnit and Nabatieh al-Fawqa are similarly deserted and largely destroyed, amid demolitions in the former and shelling and airstrikes in the latter. Nabatieh al-Fawqa was emptied after an Israeli strike in June targeted a teacher and her children as they traveled to their home to retrieve belongings.

Unstable areas

Areas facing Israeli-held towns east of Wadi al-Hujair and Wadi al-Slouqi are meanwhile subjected to daily artillery fire, airstrikes and persistent Israeli drone flights.

The security source said conditions there differed from those in towns directly bordering the Yellow Line because they were relatively farther away and had therefore not been emptied of residents.

Continued bombardment, however, had left them unstable, the source underlined, citing Shaqra and towns along the western edges of Wadi al-Hujair.

Demolitions and airstrikes

On Saturday, Israeli artillery targeted Wadi al-Slouqi near Shaqra and the outskirts of Zawtar al-Sharqiya. Heavy airstrikes also hit Jabal al-Rafi and Rihan between Iqlim al-Tuffah and Jezzine district, with explosions heard as far away as Sidon and surrounding areas.

Three strikes using high-impact missiles hit the outskirts of Sejoud, with the blasts heard as far as Zahrani.

In the western sector, Israeli forces shelled Mansouri, Majdal Zoun and Wadi Hassan. A powerful Israeli demolition rocked Tiri, while another heavy blast struck Majdal Zoun.

An Israeli force was also reported to have advanced into olive groves on the southern outskirts of Deir Mimas in Marjayoun district.

Israeli forces carried out further heavy demolitions overnight Friday into Saturday in Baraachit, Hadatha and around Beit Yahoun.